Trying on the professional self: nursing students' perceptions of learning about roles, identity and teamwork in an interprofessional clinical placement

AimThis study aims to describe how senior nursing students viewed the clinical learning environment and matured their professional identity through interprofessional learning in a student-led hospital ‘ward’.BackgroundUndergraduate nursing and medical student teams participated in a trial of ward-based interprofessional clinical learning, managing patients over 2 weeks in a rehabilitation ward.MethodsQualitative and quantitative program evaluation was conducted using exit student focus groups and a satisfaction survey.ResultsTwenty-three nursing and medical students in three placement rounds provided positive feedback. Five main themes emerged describing their engagement in ‘trying on’ a professional role: ‘experiencing independence and autonomy’; ‘seeing clearly what nursing's all about’; ‘altered images of other professions’; ‘ways of communicating and collaborating’ and ‘becoming a functioning team’.ConclusionsWard-based interprofessional clinical placements offer senior students authentic ideal clinical experiences. We consider this essential learning for future interprofessional collaboration which should be included in senior nursing students' education.